If you're addicted to carbs, science says it isn't your fault

If you've lost track of the number of times you've gone on a low-carb diet only to find yourself bingeing on pasta or crips just a few days in then a) you're not alone and b) it might not actually be your fault...

Yep, in news that makes us feel a tiny bit happier about having the willpower of an unchaperoned child at a birthday party when it comes to eating badly, scientists have discovered that some of us have a genuine weakness for carbohydrates, which makes us crave them more.

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And the secret lies in our tastebuds. It turns out that some of us have a sensitivity for starchy carbs that causes us to eat more of them, and probably gain weight as a result, Newsweek reports.

In fact, the team from Deakin University in Australia believe that non-sweet carbohydrate could even be considered a potential '7th taste', alongside the other six tastes, 'sweet', 'sour', 'bitter', 'salty', and 'savory', or 'umami'.

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'It's typically sugar, with its hedonically pleasing sweet taste, that is the most sought after carbohydrate,' said study co-author in a statement.

But the team now believe that non-sweet carbs does have a taste – and that some of us simply can't resist it.

In the small study of 34 adults, published in the Journal ofNutrition, the team taste tested the effects of two types of carb that are typically found in processed foods, maltodextrin and oligofructose. The participants were also asked to keep dietary journals.

And, oddly enough, the participants who picked up on the taste of these carbs were found to eat more carbohydrates in general, and were also found to have larger waistlines than those who didn't.

'What that could mean is that individuals who are more sensitive to the 'taste' of carbohydrate also have some form of subconscious accelerator that increases carbohydrate or starchy food consumption. But we need to do much more research to identify the reason why,' the team concluded.

So, there you go, you really may have an irresistible taste for carbs...

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